Mycetarotes
| Mycetarotes | |
|---|---|
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| Mycetarotes parallelus | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hymenoptera |
| Family: | Formicidae |
| Subfamily: | Myrmicinae |
| Tribe: | Attini |
| Genus: | Mycetarotes Emery, 1913 |
| Type species | |
| Cyphomyrmex parallelus, now Mycetarotes parallelus | |
| Diversity | |
| 4 species (Species Checklist, Species by Country)
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| Evolutionary Relationships | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Based on Ward et al. (2014), Blaimer et al. (2018) and Li et al. (2018). |
A genus of fungus growing ants. Sanchez et al (2015) - Of the four species in the genus, Mycetarotes parallelus is the most widespread and common of all species of the genus (Mayhé-Nunes & Jaffé, 1998), in contrast to the other species of the genus which are uncommon and whose distributions are restricted to specific conditions (Mayhé-Nunes, 1995; Mayhé-Nunes & Lanziotti, 2004). Unlike other Mycetarotes species M. parallelus commonly lives in open habitats, gallery forest, secondary forest, and disturbed habitats (Solomon et al., 2004).
| At a Glance | • Fungus Grower |
Contents
Photo Gallery
Identification
Sanchez et al (2015) - The ant genus Mycetarotes is represented by four species, all neotropical: Mycetarotes acutus, Mycetarotes carinatus, Mycetarotes parallelus and Mycetarotes senticosus. The workers are monomorphic and can be distinguished from other members of fungus-growing ants by the presence of tridentate occipital corners (in frontal view the occipital spines project between the outer spines of the occipital margin and supraocular spines), subparallel frontal carinae that terminate near the occipital margin, lateral margins of frontal lobes little expanded laterally and bluntly angular or rounded, and the absences of clearly delimited antennal scrobes. Their mandibles are finely and longitudinally striolate, with 5-6 teeth on the masticatory margin (Kempf, 1960; Mayhé-Nunes & Brandão, 2006).
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See images of species within this genus |
Distribution
Distribution and Richness based on AntMaps
Species by Region
Number of species within biogeographic regions, along with the total number of species for each region.
| Afrotropical Region | Australasian Region | Indo-Australian Region | Malagasy Region | Nearctic Region | Neotropical Region | Oriental Region | Palaearctic Region | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Species | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| Total Species | 2837 | 1734 | 3036 | 929 | 832 | 4375 | 1686 | 2823 |
Biology
Life History Traits
- Mean colony size: 20-100 (Greer et al., 2021)
- Compound colony type: not parasitic (Greer et al., 2021)
- Nest site: hypogaeic (Greer et al., 2021)
- Diet class: herbivore (Greer et al., 2021)
- Foraging stratum: subterranean/leaf litter (Greer et al., 2021)
Castes
Morphology
Worker Morphology
• Eyes: 11-100 ommatidia • Pronotal Spines: dentiform • Mesonotal Spines: dentiform • Propodeal Spines: dentiform • Petiolar Spines: dentiform • Caste: none or weak • Sting: present • Metaplural Gland: present • Cocoon: absent
Nomenclature
The following information is derived from Barry Bolton's Online Catalogue of the Ants of the World.
- MYCETAROTES [Myrmicinae: Attini]
- Mycetarotes Emery, 1913b: 251 [as subgenus of Cyphomyrmex]. Type-species: Cyphomyrmex parallelus, by original designation.
- Mycetarotes raised to genus: Borgmeier, 1950b: 384.
References
- Bolton, B. 2003. Synopsis and Classification of Formicidae. Mem. Am. Entomol. Inst. 71: 370pp (page 199, Mycetarotes in Myrmicinae, Attini)
- Borgmeier, T. 1950b. Bemerkungen zu Dr. Creighton's Werk "The ants of North America". Rev. Entomol. (Rio J.) 21: 381-386 (page 384, Mycetarotes as genus)
- Cantone S. 2018. Winged Ants, The queen. Dichotomous key to genera of winged female ants in the World. The Wings of Ants: morphological and systematic relationships (self-published).
- Emery, C. 1913c. Études sur les Myrmicinae. [V-VII.]. Ann. Soc. Entomol. Belg. 57: 250-262 (page 251, Mycetarotes as subgenus of Cyphomyrmex; Mycetarotes in Myrmicinae, Attini)
- Emery, C. 1924f [1922]. Hymenoptera. Fam. Formicidae. Subfam. Myrmicinae. [concl.]. Genera Insectorum 174C: 207-397 (page 342, Mycetarotes in Myrmicinae, Attini; Mycetarotes as subgenus of Cyphomyrmex)
- Fernandez, F., Guerrero, R.J., Sánchez-Restrepo, A.F. 2021. Sistemática y diversidad de las hormigas neotropicales. Revista Colombiana de Entomología 47, 1–20 (doi:10.25100/socolen.v47i1.11082).
- Forel, A. 1917. Cadre synoptique actuel de la faune universelle des fourmis. Bull. Soc. Vaudoise Sci. Nat. 51: 229-253 (page 247, Mycetarotes as subgenus of Cyphomyrmex)
- Greer, J. A., Moreau, C. S. 2021. Phylogenetic analysis and trait evolution of ant cocoons. Insect Systematics & Evolution 53(1), 60–77 (doi:10.1163/1876312x-bja10008).
- Hanisch, P.E., Sosa-Calvo, J., Schultz, T.R. 2022. The last piece of the puzzle? Phylogenetic position and natural history of the monotypic fungus-farming ant genus Paramycetophylax (Formicidae: Attini). Insect Systematics and Diversity 6 (1): 11:1-17 (doi:10.1093/isd/ixab029).
- Kempf, W. W. 1960d. A review of the ant genus Mycetarotes Emery (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Rev. Bras. Biol. 20: 277-283 (page 277, Review of genus)
- Mayhé-Nunes, A. J. 1995. Sinopse do gênero Mycetarotes (Hym., Formicidae), com a descriça~o de duas especies novas. Bol. Entomol. Venez. (n.s.) 10(2): 197-205 (page 197, review of genus)
- Sanchez, A. F., C. A. Medina, and G. W. Prescott. 2015. First Record of the Genus Mycetarotes (Emery, 1913) (Formicidae: Myrmicinae) from Colombia. Sociobiology. 62:331-333. doi:10.13102/sociobiology.v62i2.331-333
- Solomon, S.E., Mueller, U.G., Schultz, T.R., Currie, C.R., Price, S.L., Oliveira da Silva-Pinhati, A.C., Bacci, Jr M., Vasconcelos, H.L. 2004. Nesting biology of the fungus growing ants Mycetarotes Emery (Attini, Formicidae). Insectes Sociaux 51: 333-338.
